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May 12, 2009

Police Demonize the Teenager Killed by Taser Torture

Robert Mitchell is the 16-year old youngster who was killed with tasers from Warren police officers. Everyone is waiting on the autopsy results to understand the cause of death. However the police couldn't wait to let the public know that Mitchell had marijuana in his system.

Warren -- Toxicology testing conducted on a Detroit teen who died shortly after being shocked with a Taser by Warren police showed marijuana in his system at the time of his death, police said today.

The final autopsy report for 16-year-old Robert Mitchell is still pending with the Macomb County Medical Examiner's office.

Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer said at this point, it is unknown if the drugs found in the teen's system played a role in his death.

Police allege that on April 10, the Detroit Kettering High School sophomore bailed out of the Dodge Stratus he was riding in during a traffic stop for an expired license plate on Eight Mile near Schoenherr. Police say he discarded his jacket before leading officers on a half-block chase to a home on Pelkey.

He was stunned one time for resisting when officers attempted to pat him down.

Mitchell's family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Warren April 20.

My perspective is simple. The young man didn't deserve the death penalty for running or "discarding his jacket". The police don't have the right to electrocute a teenager for these things.

7 comments:

I agree with you that this teenager did not deserve execution for tossing his jacket, running from police or being high.

Still...

Can we also focus on the fact that the person who was killed was doing what they should not have been doing?

I am not saying that murder is just punishment so don't get me wrong but I feel a headache coming on when the discussion FOCUSES on the racist cops and not on the trifling behavior of the deceased that led to the police even approaching them to begin with....

Is that insensitive towards the deceased? No, it isn't.

Having expired plates is no reason to kill someone. I am not saying it is.

At the same time...when...when...WHEN will we teach black boys that there is a concerted effort of annihilation of black men in this country and teach them how to AVOID being a statistic?

Back in the day, black boys knew darn well what could result in being lynched and they made SURE that they were aware of the dangers of even walking down a road...these days...we still want to pretend that Amerikkka is not a racist land and our male children are being killed because they were fighting, riding on expired plates, caught high on drugs???

Lisa - Your point is well taken. However, it should be noted that the 16-year old who's life was ended by taser execution didn't own the car. He was simply a passenger. Should he have run? Hmmm...based on the outcome it appears that he should have kept running and never stopped...

I am horrified! What have we as a people become if we allow those that are supposed to protect and serve murder our children in cold blood!? This young boy was a child. He was barely a young man with so many of the temptations and problems of this world bearing down on his shoulders and who among us has not had days of trouble in our youth? I have children his age and they will grow older and also make mistakes. This young boy was murdered and because of that I hope that more people run away from the police. The lesson, the only thing that I can take from this is that I continue to teach my children to avoid the police at all costs! They no longer serve us in any way. They protect nothing and no one! Police only write reports AFTER the crime has occured. It is clear, so very terribly and fatally clear that the police are killers who must themselves be brought to justice. If we fail to organize, if we delay when our own children are being killed, then we shall all fall under the jackboot of tyranny, fascism and ultimately slavery.